For Immediate Release

ICYMI: HARRY REID's THOUGHTS AND MORE MOMENTUM FOR SUPREME COURT EXPANSION THIS WEEK

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (October 1, 2020) — While the first presidential debate took up nearly all media oxygen this week, we didn't want you to miss these developments in favor of court reform and expanding the Supreme Court -- especially Harry Reid's thoughts on the proposal:

THE NEW YORKER: Harry Reid on the Senate, the Supreme Court, and a Time for Major Change (Jeffrey Toobin)

Reid was the Minority Leader in the Senate when McConnell blocked the Garland nomination, on the argument that there should be no Supreme Court confirmations in an election year. Now, of course, McConnell is leading the charge for Barrett. Reid thinks that it’s time for some redress for what he regards as the theft of those two seats.

Reid was a Senate institutionalist, but now he’s ready for the Senate to consider some major changes to the structure of the U.S. government. “First of all, the Supreme Court is not a static body. It’s not always been nine members—they have had five, eight, different numbers,” Reid said. [...] “I think it’s time that we did something after the election, something very publicly. We should hold some hearings, educate the public about this history. We should show that we’ve changed the number of Justices in the past, and we may have to do it again.”

Here's an important piece on how a 6-3 conservative SCOTUS could block pro-democracy legislation in the next Congress, citing a Take Back the Court study:

WASHINGTON POST: How the ‘minority rule’ problem could get much worse (Greg Sargent)

If Democrats win the presidency and both chambers of Congress, they will likely try to advance a version of H.R. 1, the pro-democracy reforms that House Democrats passed in 2019. [...]

But as this new report argues, a 6-3 conservative court would likely strike down those reforms. [...]

"This could foreclose all avenues for ending partisan gerrymandering,” the report concludes.

The court could also strike down a national automatic voter registration system [...]

And here are two interviews with Take Back the Court's founder Aaron Belkin:

THE ATLANTIC: The Democrats’ Supreme Court Hail Mary (Elane Godfrey)

Aaron Belkin: For people who are worried about Republican retaliation, court expansion is the safest way to protect democracy and the safest way to de-radicalize the Republican Party. The party has become completely unmoored from facts and reality. Progressives have a fantasy that thrashing the Republicans at the ballot box can de-radicalize them. That’s not true. The only way to de-radicalize the Republican Party is [for Democrats] to come back into office after the 2020 election and do three things: kill the filibuster, pass a democracy-reform bill, and expand the Court. If you unrig the system, the GOP will have to be de-radicalized at least a bit in order to win elections, and that is what will make the courts safe from Republican retaliation. They’ll be less radical as a party.

MSNBC's INTO AMERICA (podcast): Into Expanding the Supreme Court
Episode description: "Expanding the Supreme Court used to be a non-starter. Now, some liberals see it as their only option to save the court."

Quote from Trymaine Lee:
"If you can credit the sudden rise and popularity of court expansion to one person, it's Aaron Belkin"

Quotes from Aaron Belkin:

"The stolen Supreme Court is about to destroy the Affordable Care Act in the middle of a pandemic."
"The Court has been assaulting women and workers and people of color in order to uphold the interests of plutocrats and the GOP."
"This Court - and lower court Trump judges - will have a Biden White House in handcuffs on day one."
"Rebalancing the Court would be much more consistent with American law and practice than what Mitch McConnell did in 2016."

Take Back the Court raises awareness about the urgent need to expand the number of seats on the Supreme Court to address the theft of the court by Senator Mitch McConnell during the Obama Administration. Without adding seats, Congress will not be able to restore the right to vote, ensure reproductive freedom, protect workers, halt our climate emergency, or pass new legislation. Court expansion, which can be accomplished without a constitutional amendment, is the only reform that enables the un-rigging of the system and the restoration of democracy. Learn more: https://www.takebackthecourt.today/